Former Trojan Natasha Wood competing in 2016 Olympics

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock alumnae will compete in the 2016 Olympics, making her the second Trojan in UALR history to take part in the Olympics. Natasha Wodak, a former distance runner for the UALR track team, has qualified to run the 10,000-meter race for her native country of Canada Friday, Aug. 12. Wodak, of Surrey, British Columbia, ran cross country and distance track races for Little Rock in 1999 and 2000. She is the second Trojan to make the Olympics. Dawn Williams-Sewer competed at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, running the 800-meter race for Dominica. Despite not running for the Trojans in 16 years, Wodak’s name still appears in multiple places in the school’s record book. She was named All-Sun Belt in cross country in 1999 after placing ninth at the league’s championship meet. She also remains 17th all-time in program history in the cross country 5K with a time of 18:26 in 2000. Wodak’s 3K time of 10:21.56 is the ninth-fastest time in program history outdoors. Since leaving Little Rock, Wodak has improved her 3K personal best (indoors) by more than a minute, racing to a finish of 9:02.57 in 2013. Wodak’s 10,000-meter race personal best is 31:41.59 – the current Canadian record – set in 2015 during the Payton Jordan Invitational in Stanford, California. She also holds the Canadian record in the 8,000-meter race. The women’s 10,000-meter race will start at 9:10 a.m. Central time Aug. 12 at Olympic Stadium. NBC will provide live television coverage, with live streaming available at NBCOlympics.com.